Most of our congregation knows Vickie Doebele, a 20+year UCE member and our Staff Accountant since 2019. And maybe even more importantly, Vickie knows most of us. Vickie is the one who keeps all of our pledge payments and donations straight, makes the bank deposits, pays our vendors and prepares our monthly financial statements. Handling the accounting for UCE is more complicated than one would think with so many members’ payments to track, and Vickie’s knowledge of the congregation has proven to be very helpful in keeping everything running smoothly.

When asked how members could help us run even more smoothly, Vickie knew the answer right away. “Remind members to fill out the memo line on their checks so I know how to apply their funds! And ask them to look at their Giving Statements when we email them. Sometimes they catch errors, or they are reminded about their pledge.” Another confusing issue can arise when folks make payments to UCE directly from an investment account.  Please make sure your name has been attached to the contribution.  Currently, we’re trying to solve a mystery of who is making monthly payments from JP Morgan Chase.

Bringing her daughter to Sunday School is what brought Vickie to UCE. They greatly enjoyed the UCE family camping trips as well as the family friendship dinners, and her daughter is still close with the friends she made at UCE. These days, Vickie enjoys the non-fiction book club. A voracious reader, Vickie’s current book recommendations are Kindred, which the REAL team led group discussions of this past fall, and The Great Believers, a novel set in Chicago during the AIDS epidemic. Vickie also has another book recommendation “The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies and the Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted American’s Enemies.” A fascinating true story that begins in Chicago.

Being in the administrative office several days each week, Vickie enjoys helping people who phone the office or stop by the church. Recently, she answered the door buzzer and was asked, “Who’s serving dinner tonight?” Vickie quickly realized that it was someone looking for the Soup Kitchen for that evening and they must have unsuccessfully stopped by our neighbor, Beth Emet. Vickie apologized, saying she didn’t know which church hosted dinner on Tuesday. The visitor said, “It’s Tuesday? Thanks, bye!” Being willing to have the conversation, Vickie often provides a bit of clarification as she assists in the office. [Editor’s note: The rotating schedule and addresses for the overnight shelter and the soup kitchen are now located on the Community Events bulletin board and in the red folder in the Welcome Center cabinet.]

Thank you, Vickie! We very much appreciate all you do to keep UCE running well!

Citizen’s Greener Evanston (CGE) is Reconvening on Climate Action & Resilience on Saturday, January 28th, 2023, from 3:00-5:00 pm at the Evanston Lorraine Morton Civic Center 4th Floor Parasol Room. Please bring your ideas about how we can best coordinate climate action across organizations in Evanston.

Evanston organizations are invited to provide an update on what their organization is working on that is related to climate action. UCE is not planning to provide an update at this meeting. If you are interested in getting involved with CGE and attending what will be quarterly meetings, please contact Rev. Susan at sfrances@ucevanston.org.

Many of us are concerned about climate change and are taking actions to decrease our environmental impacts and prepare for a changing climate. Building on a series of meetings that took place in 2019 and 2020, the City of Evanston, the Evanston Environment Board, and CGE are bringing people together to share information about what everyone is working on and to coordinate climate action efforts across organizations.

The January 28 gathering will be the first of four quarterly meetings planned for 2023. Individuals not affiliated with a specific organization are also welcome. Here is a brief agenda:

1. Welcome remarks.

2. Updates from each group or organization in the room.

3. Introduction of individuals.

4. Networking, mobilizing for action, and prioritizing goals.

5. Confirmation of the next meeting date.

Register HERE!

New Beginnings

Earlier this month during our Chalice Circle program with the children, we explored a picture of a statue of the Roman god, Janus. They noted many of the obvious things, such as that he has two heads that are braided together and that one is facing to the left and one is facing to the right. We talked about how one face is looking to the past and the other to the future, and that this is where we get our name for the month starting the New Year, January. The conversation became more profound when they noticed the ages of the faces, one looking younger and one much older. “Which one is looking to the past and which one is looking to the future?” I asked. One theory was that the older one was looking to the past because he had many years of life experience to look back on. The younger one was looking to the future because he had many years to live ahead of him. And then one young person thought carefully and said, “Maybe the older one is looking to the future because he regrets things from the past.” I just love discovering different perspectives from our young people!

So here we are, at the point of yet another new beginning – a time to look forward while reflecting on our past. “Out with the old and in with the new!” is a common expression at New Year’s. Or for the young at heart, (sing with me!) “Let it go, let it go!” We honored this with the fire communion on New Year’s Day by burning papers representing the things we want and need to let go of in our lives. In this spirit, we are doing just this in our faith formation program. By letting go of something that isn’t meeting our dreams, aspirations, or needs and trying different ideas, we discover new things about ourselves and ways of forming connections with each other.

We are now letting go of the Forum Discussion Group for the rest of the year with the thought that it might become something new and better next fall. Perhaps there is a more meaningful way for adults to learn and connect on Sundays? Or maybe there is more of a need for something completely different – perhaps spiritual or theological? Let’s take some time to consider this over the next few months. I welcome your thoughts as we do so.

And for our “in with the new”, we have two programs starting early next month:

Families First Fridays – yes, my desire is to claim some of the language used by more conservative-minded organizations. After all, we UUs care just as much about our families as they do! The Family Ministry Team wanted to start a new tradition of a monthly family-friendly gathering, and so our first one will be February 3 at 5:30-7:30p. We will have pizza and lots of fun with Groundhog Day-inspired activities. Please register so we can order enough pizzas for everyone.

Parents’ Gathering – several parents have expressed a desire to have a time to get together on Sunday mornings occasionally, and our first gathering will be on February 5 at 9:30-10:15a in room 13. Those present will share their thoughts on what they’d like this group to be (such as educational, supportive, spiritual, UU-focused) and how often to meet.

Of course, there are also programs and events that we continue to cherish, such as the Our Whole Lives (OWL) Sexuality Education program. This year, our youth are gathering one weekend a month with youth from 1st Unitarian and 2nd Unitarian for this important curriculum. UCE will be hosting the youth on February 17-18, and we could use some help with greeting and directing youth and facilitators, providing snacks for the weekend, and tidying up on Saturday afternoon. It’s an easy way to support our youth and our UU values! If interested, please sign up here.

In Faith,

Kathy